This yoga sculpt and tone sequence is part of the Prime Women 30-Day Fitness Challenge. If you haven’t yet, get all the details and learn how you can participate! All you need is 5 minutes a day for 30 days to commit to a healthier you!
>JOIN THE PRIME WOMEN 30-DAY FITNESS CHALLENGE
Have you heard of yoga sculpt classes? They’re a new group fitness trend that maximizes calorie burn in a short period of time. They promise results… But they also start at $23 a class. This 10-minute yoga sculpt sequence can give you some of the same sculpting and toning benefits at home and costs nothing!
Yoga to Sculpt And Tone
- Start seated on the mat, hands on knees. Spiral your upper body clockwise then counter-clockwise.
- Inhale and take arms up, taking the right arm to the opposite side. Repeat on the other side, taking the left arm to the right side.
- Swing over into child’s pose, with toes touching and knees wide. Extend the hands forward and move the ribs and torso from side to side. While doing this swing one arm forward, the other back, alternating arms.
- Come and stand onto the left knee, right leg extended behind you. Take the right arm up and over the head, left arms on the ground. Then kick into the floor with the right foot, bringing in the left knee to meet the right elbow in front of your chest, like a crunch.
- Then grab the right heel and pull the bent leg behind you with the right arm. Hold for a moment before releasing it.
- Come up and repeat steps 4 and 5 on the opposite side.
- Repeat steps 4-6 ten times.
- Ease up and go onto all 4, arching the back into cat and curving the spine into cow pose.
- Return to all fours. Then take one leg, bend at the knee and lift up, wrapping it forward. Repeat on the other side. If you need extra support during this move, pad the mat with a blanket.
- Repeat step 9 for a total of 12 times.
- Tuck and touch the toes under you, taking the knees wider than you would for child’s pose. Push the hands forward. Take the head to the floor if you can.
- Lay stomach-down on your mat. With arms bent at the elbows, walk the hands back to the lower ribs, chin and shoulders off the mat.
- Swing left hip a little bit to the side then bend the left knee. Bring it forward, much like we just did in step 9, then bring back to the floor. Repeat on the other side.
- Repeat step 13 for a total of 10 repetitions.
- Lift upper body up, pressing the elbows to the mat. Lift the heart-chest and look up.
- Turn sideways slightly on the mat and find the heel with the hand, bringing it to the glutes. Hold for a moment before repeating on the opposite side.
- If you are using a blanket, remove it at this time.
- Lay back on the mat, stomach down. Do the first part of step 13, elbows bent and hands at ribs, point the leg toward the ceiling, tap the elbow with the knee. But then, curl the toes under, and shift back, leg still raised.
- Curl the toes under and lift the leg up, so it is extended.
- Drop the foot to the opposite side, so you have to twist your heart-chest toward the ceiling and bring the arm on the same side as the pivoting leg up.
- Then tap the knee of the same leg to the elbow of the arm on the same side, much as we did in step 4.
- Swing the leg to the front of the mat so you are in a lunge position. Lower the back knee and on the inhale bring the arms up.
- On the exhale bring the elbow to the outer knee, taking the twist.
- Drop the left hand and turn the right toes out. Reach around for a tree pose, placing the right foot on the thigh of the left leg and reaching the right arm toward the front of the mat.
- For the next move, you will have 2 options:
- For beginners: stay in tree pose, but bring both arms back to the ground. Do a push-up in tree pose.
- For more advanced: Stack the bent knee on the elbow. Lean forward so you are balanced on your bent arms. Then kick out the leg to the side.
- Step the bent knee back and enter a downward-facing dog. Stay here for a minute pedaling the legs.
- Then, bend the knees and hop forward, bringing the feet to meet the hands. Then hop back. Do this for a total of 3 times.
- Inhale and enter the plank position. On the exhale bring the body to the mat.
- Repeat steps 18-25 on the opposite side.
- Enter child’s pose, toes touching, knees bent and hands stretched forward.
WATCH: YOGA TO STRENGTHEN LEGS, HIPS AND GLUTES
